Stephen A. Smith blasts Jerry Jones over ‘ignorant-ass statement’ prioritizing business over Dallas Cowboys

Earlier this week, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones once again sparked controversy within his diehard fanbase. That came after viral comments to the Wall Street Journal seemed to suggest an alleged $100 billion natural gas project was keeping him from addressing his team’s defensive issues.

On Thursday, Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott attempted to downplay his owner’s comments and instead suggested Jones was being literal when he told the Wall Street Journal: “There’s $100 billion present value with gas out there, that’s why I’m talking to you on the telephone rather than trying to fix our defense with the Dallas Cowboys.”

Of course, not everyone agreed, including ESPN firebrand Stephen A. Smith. During Friday’s First Take, Smith called out Jones for his “ignorant-ass statement.”

“Jerry, what are you doing? What kind of ignorant-ass statement is that? You can’t do that. If the Dallas Cowboys miss the playoffs because they make no move to improve a defense that was clearly compromised once Micah Parsons was let go, (Cowboys fans) are going to hold onto that quote, Jerry!” Smith said Friday morning. “Did you have to say that to the Wall Street Journal? Couldn’t have kept that to yourself? Why even think that? You’re worth $13-16 billion dollars … you already made the billions, go ahead and make more.

“But in the middle of a season, where you have one of the most prolific offenses around, if not the most prolific offense around, and everybody and their grandmamma knows that your defense is what’s trash. … Now you’ve got to sit up there and contemplate what we’ve got to do to better position ourselves so that our $60 million quarterback — who’s been balling, who’s an MVP candidate, regardless of what happened in Denver last week.

“My god, why would you say that? Dak Prescott would’ve been totally justified if he said: ‘Man, that’s f’d up.’ You don’t need to be saying something like that,” Smith continued. “… Listen, optics matter, verbiage matters, words matter, regardless of what everybody wants to act like, words matter. You cannot say that, Jerry. … And I applaud Dak for handling it the way he did. … Very disappointed in Jerry’s comments.”

Dak Prescott reacts to Jerry Jones quote about $100B project, Dallas Cowboys defense

At the very least, Prescott can understand why fans are frustrated by Jones’ sentiment. It’s easy to feel them.

“I don’t know the full context of it,” Prescott said via The Athletic‘s Jon Machota. “I do know a piece of it. But being a fan and you just hear that or read that, yeah, of course. … That can definitely be frustrating. But in that sense, I would just say, the guy has never really lied about who he is or what he’s trying to do. Hopefully, he was talking about in that one particular moment.

“Maybe in those five minutes is what he was alluding to, and having a chance at a $100 billion opportunity, I think you might take five minutes as well to answer a call. Hopefully that’s what he means, right? But I could see how it could be frustrating.”

Prescott went on to add that the players cannot control anything Jones does. His main focus is on the next game, which happens to come on Monday Night Football. The Arizona Cardinals come to AT&T Stadium, a place Kyler Murray has famously never lost in his football career. Murray appears to be on track to play and Prescott’s goal is to add something to the loss column.

— On3’s Griffin McVeigh contributed to this report.